Thoughts on Life, Love, Politics, Hypocrisy and Coming Out in Mid-Life

Thursday, April 19, 2018

House Republicans Want More Tax Cuts for the Wealthy

With the GOP/Trump tax cuts remaining unpopular, especially given the $1.8 trillion budget deficit increase they are now projected to cause, Republicans are panicking ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. So what do House Republicans want to do? Lead by Paul "Reverse Robin Hood" Ryan, they want to pass an additional $650 billion in cuts by making the cuts for individuals permanent. Never mind that those cuts disproportionately went to the very wealthy - I have seen less than $50 in difference in pay pay stubs - while average Americans were largely stiffed. And that doesn't even get into the issue of how Ryan and company seek to slash the social safety net for average Americans. The only positive news is that Mitch McConnell (who I suspect history will depict as a key player in the end of American democracy) is not keen on the effort since a handful of Democrat senators might vote for the bill and deprive the GOP of a perceived cudgel to use against them in November. The GOP truly lives in a bubble/alternate universe. Here are highlights from the Washington Post:

Heading into a contentious campaign for control of
Congress, Republicans are increasingly divided over how to bolster their
signature legislative achievement — a $1.5 trillion tax cut — amid signs
it is not the political gift they had expected it to be last year.

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan
(R-Wis.) aims to pass another massive tax cut this summer, which Republicans
hope will rev up the GOP base and improve the standing of Republicans at the
polls.

But Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is under pressure to block a vote, which Republican
campaign strategists worry could allow red-state Democrats to vote for
additional tax cuts and undermine one of the GOP’s most effective lines of
attack in conservative-leaning states: that Democrats voted against a big tax
cut last December.

The GOP debate shows how the tax bill, which Republicans
rushed to pass in December despite the enormous complexity of overhauling the
tax code, has not become the campaign booster Republicans said it would be.

Republicans had bet that increasing the take-home pay of
Americans would help them defeat Democrats come November. But months after the
tax cut started to affect paychecks, polling shows the legislation remains
unpopular.

That is a major problem for Republicans, who since taking
control of the government last year have dealt with party infighting,
high-profile retirements, multiple stalled attempts to repeal President Barack
Obama’s health-care law and the constant swirl of controversy surrounding
President Trump.

Some Republicans have even
suggested that voters might not have noticed increases of $40 or $60 or so in
their paychecks, partly because many workers no longer get paper pay
stubs. . . . . The $1.5 trillion legislation was primarily focused on
cutting taxes for companies. It also trimmed individual taxes, but those cuts
were left to expire in 2026 to comply with Senate budget rules.

Democrats have seized on the
unbalanced approach, which Republicans promised would be rectified.

Conservative leaders met with Ryan on Monday and expect a
vote in June or July. That would give lawmakers time to discuss the issue with
constituents over the August recess and ahead of Labor Day, the traditional
kickoff to the election campaign season.But privately, Republicans trying to knock off Senate
Democrats in states including West Virginia, Montana, Indiana and Missouri
don’t want McConnell to take such a vote and are urging him against it,
according to two GOP strategists knowledgeable about the conversations.

“Holding another vote would take away one of the bigger
hits we have against Democrats for this fall and gives them a chance to take
credit . . . . Another Republican strategist closely involved in
Senate campaigns said that officials with the National Republican Senate
Committee were urging McConnell not to hold a vote on individual tax cut
permanence out of concern for the benefit to endangered Democrats. The
strategist also requested anonymity to discuss the deliberations.

For their part, red-state
Democrats appear ready to take advantage of a vote if Republicans schedule one.
While enough Democrats would vote against additional tax cuts because of how
much they’d add to the deficit, some such as Sen. Joe Manchin III of West
Virginia or Sen. Jon Tester of Montana could end up supporting them, thereby
undercutting a major GOP line of attack against them.

Still, GOP leaders in the House and some conservative
leaders argue that additional tax cuts would offer Americans another reminder
that Republicans passed tax cuts in the first place and that Democrats broadly
oppose them.

The struggles have led some Republicans to urge
candidates to redouble their efforts to sell the tax law, which on average
increased after-tax income for taxpayers in all tax groups this year, according
to the Tax Foundation, while adding more than $1 trillion to the deficit.

House Republicans obviously believe that voters are idiots and can be bought for $40 per bi-monthly paycheck. One can only hope that they are proven very, very wrong.

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Out gay attorney in a committed relationship; formerly married and father of three wonderful children; sometime activist and political/news junkie; survived coming out in mid-life and hope to share my experiences and reflections with others.
In the career/professional realm, I am affiliated with Caplan & Associates PC where I practice in the areas of real estate, estate planning (Wills, Trusts, Advanced Medical Directives, Financial Powers of Attorney, Durable Medical Powers of Attorney); business law and commercial transactions; formation of corporations and limited liability companies and legal services to the gay, lesbian and transgender community, including birth certificate amendment.

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